September 02, 2009

Explaining my absence

OK, many of you have asked but I knew that I had to put in an explanation for my continued absence here when my mother in Turkey complained that she missed the "postcards" from me on the blog.

I am alive and well. But here are two reasons why this space will not be updated frequently over the coming months:

I am writing a book (on globalization, what else?), and I find the blog really competes with it for my energies and ideas. I hope there will be a reason for people to want to read the book even if they have been devout followers of this blog.

All kind of spammers have taken over the comments section of this blog, and I don't know (or have the time) to clean it up.

In the meantime, my monthly series with Project Syndicate continues, so you can always turn there for my periodic column-sized bursts.

Just wondering if you have any further thoughts on SDRs now that the 4th ammendment has been approved by the US and general allocation is officially approved? (If you have time- would love your thoughts in a future blog!)

I am contacting you concerning The World Log (http://theworldlog.org), a web platform that spreads user generated content (blogs, photos, video and newsletters) related to development cooperation to larger audiences.

The Swedish International Development Co-orporation Agency (Sida) has developed the on-line platform to bring the general public closer to the realities of development work throughout the world and to involve them in the issues. The target audiences for the site are professionals, people involved in development issues and the general public. The goal of the platform is to raise awareness and generate discussion prior to, during and after the European Development Days (http://www.eudevdays.eu/) in Stockholm this October, and to engage the general public in the debate and questions of international development. The World Log is bringing the tools of the 21st century to bare on the issues to be discussed .

The World Log shows real stories and discussions from development work around the world in an easily accessible way. Entries are plotted on Google maps and marked up by topic, making your blog and others easily available to those not versed in blog search tools. The platform will be heavily promoted during the European Development Days through several official sites such as the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish EU Presidency website and the Sida website. The goal of the platform is to drive as many people as possible to the actual blogs, such as yours, and engage them in actual development work discussions and activities from around the world.

Registration for the site is free and will take roughly 10 minutes of your time. You can attach your blog by simply copying and pasting in your RSS feed into your World Log profile. You can set up standard tags for your entries, such as the country you are working in or writing about and the issues that you regularly address such as AIDS or water. This way when someone searches for articles, blogs and discussions about, for example, water, you will be part of the results. You can also add specific tags for specific articles. For example if you regularly write about agricultural development in Rwanda but write a blog entry about women's issues in Central Africa, you can tag that specific blog entry to reflect the different topic.

The World Log is not limited to blogs alone. Newsletters, photos and videos are all supported and encouraged. All you need is the RSS feed. The platform also supports discussions and comments based on entries so that you can follow what your readers are saying. Readers who click on your entry are directed to your site so you register the hit. We have developed a widget that you can embed in your site if you wish your readers to see on-going discussions and topic on the World Log related to what you write about. And we also have badges that you can attach to your site to show your affiliation with the World Log. There are no strings attached, we do this to promote discussion and engage the public, though we encourage you to promote the site for your and others benefit.

I really hope that you will consider being a part of the discussion. You are passionate about the issues and development (which is why I am contacting you) and so are we. More detailed information about the site, including an easy to use set-up guide, can be found here (http://theworldlog.org/signup-info/). If you have any questions, please ask.

The World Log is an opportunity for you to reach new readers and have your voice heard in the build up to, during and after the European Development Days conference.

you prolly won't read this
in sense it's just more spam
but u're a huge lose
in my twice weekly econ con
blog rounds
in a meme tug
u dani me boy
like zeus
can pull most all of the other olympians around with one hand
even if they all pull together for once

The Internet is associated with the process of cultural globalization because it allows interaction and communication between people with very different lifestyles and from very different cultures. Photo sharing websites allow interaction even where language would otherwise be a barrier.

Well, I understand your reason. It's really cool, that you write a book. Don't forget to tell us, if your book is published. I will be on the first row to buy your book. I love being here, reading your post, so I always wait for you to update it.

You can also add specific tags for specific articles. For example if you regularly write about agricultural development in Rwanda but write a blog entry about women's issues in Central Africa, you can tag that specific blog entry to reflect the different topic.

That's too bad. I like this blog. But I understand that it takes up too much of your energy. When I try to work on multiple projects at once, it's hard to put 100% of myself into each one individually.

Globalization has been one of the most hotly debated topics in international economics over the past few years. Globalization has also generated significant international opposition over concerns that it has increased inequality and environmental degradation.

A year's output is the value of goods and services produced over that year, while equity values reflect the (discounted) value of all future streams of profits. If you are comparing the two, you must at least have a sense of what a decent benchmark for comparison would be. http://www.watchgy.com/

The United Nations ESCWA has written that globalization "is a widely-used term that can be defined in a number of different ways. When used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour... although considerable barriers remain to the flow of labour... Globalization is not a new phenomenon.

I can't see any obvious reason why a US fiscal expansion would increase foreign demand for US debt. If anything, it might reduce foreign demand, if it were perceived to make US debt riskier, since there would be more debt outstanding. And then US net exports would actually rise, so you would get a crowding-in effect.

I don't know if you are right or if I am right. But what bothers me is that I don't see much analysis of this question anywhere. How fiscal policy affects the exchange rate and net exports, under current conditions, ought to be one of the things we are analysing.http://www.watchgy.com/http://www.watchgy.com/breitling-c-17.html

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The platform will be heavily promoted during the European Development Days through several official sites such as the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish EU Presidency website and the Sida website. The goal of the platform is to drive as many people as possible to the actual blogs, such as yours, and engage them in actual development work discussions and activities from around the world.

it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour... although considerable barriers remain to the flow of labour... Globalization is not a new phenomenon.http://www.sea-in-shoes.com/Slippers-and-Sandals-c3.html

Again, estimates suggest that the numbers in both ICM and http://www.new-jerseys.com Com Res would make Labour the largest party but leave it short of an overall majority. Labour finds itself in the unusual position of falling to third place in three out of the last four polls but celebrating its potential return to government.